BURMA FACTS

AREA: 676,552 sq. km. (261,218 sq. mi) POPULATION: 38 million POPULATION DENSITY: 53.8 per sq. km. ADULT LITERACY: 34% (males, 24%; females, 44%). EDUCATION: Not compulsory but free where available; 61% of school-aged youths attend primary and secondary school. RELIGION: 85% Buddhist PRINCIPAL EXPORTS: Rice, timber (teak), wheat. ECONOMY: GNP $190 (1985 US $) per capita; foreign debt estimated between $3 billion and $4 billion; 1987 inflation 26% and soaring; average worker income is 25 US cents per day; one of world's 10 poorest countries. POLITICAL HISTORY: Annexed to British India 1890; invaded by Japan, Feb. 1942; reoccupied by Burmese Nationalists May 1945; became independent of British Commonwealth Jan. 1948. TODAY: U Sein Lwin is chairman of Burma Socialist Program Party and president; U Tun Tin is prime minister. TOURISM: Undeveloped; only 33,000 visitors in 1985.